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MIND GAMES Nottingham Post Review

Performing to a sold out auditorium at Nottingham Arts Theatre, ‘Mind Games’ saw Aaron Calvert captivate a very appreciative audience with two hours of psychological mischief.

Whilst none of us knew what to expect, the show delivered a continual stream of surprises that kept us guessing and ended with a major revelation, one of those ‘how is that possible!?’ moments.

The likeably confident performer started with a series of guessing games, where patterns, names and memories of the audience were pitted against him in a series of ‘will he or won’t he?’ moments.

We shouldn’t have doubted, he got them all with no hint of a trick, and left us with one of the greatest feints I’ve seen.

Although always impressive, it sometimes felt a bit slow getting audience members up onto and down from the stage, but Calvert’s charisma kept things running and he was never flustered, despite some technical difficulties.

If the first half was good the second was spectacular, as Calvert used hypnosis but without humiliating any of the participants; a trope which often adds a sour note to these shows.

He peddled through expert manipulation and finished with a Frisbee throwing spectacular.

The use of audience members throughout was a nice touch that kept the show authentic, though sometimes segments could be more awkward than planned simply due to the members involved.

Mind Games is an excellent new show with a few kinks to iron out, which shall no doubt happen as the tour progresses.